What are the characteristics of a good unit? From the perspective of:

 

STUDENT:

q Fun

q Interactive

q Use technology

q Feel successful/sense of accomplishment

q Logical/easy to follow and understand steps

q Understand relevance/importance (not busywork)

q Want to share what they have learned (parents, public, etc.)

q Interactive/kids are engaged

q Integrated with other parts of curriculum

TEACHER

q Pre/post-test data

q Student participation

q Employs all learning styles (kinesthetic, visual, etc.)

q Long-term application for student development

q Transferability

q Completeness (not so specialized that it becomes useless)

CADRE 1 reflections/weaknesses

q       Were not consistent (missing pieces); quality varied

q       How does a teacher find 2 weeks within curriculum to make the module work?

q       Conflict between time/teacher goals/requirements on state tests

q       Pseudo-priorities (teachers can only do so much from the bottom up) goal: national incorporation of Computational Science into curriculum (how do we show student learning within Computational Science) integration challenges

q       Jobs at risk due to test scores

q       Need strong academic component (e.g. strong science or math, but just an application of technology) for accountability

q       Success of project: application of models, or integrating computational science thinking skills into the curriculum

q       What are some of the staff development activities from Cadre 1/what are they doing to promote computational science in their area

q       Cadre 1 focus: develop unit and “stick” into the curriculum

q       Assessment seems stuck in the end (why is assessment workshop at the end?) Need to begin with the end in mind

q       Evolving role of assessment within program/curriculum

q       Balancing time with content yet thinking in terms of process to build understanding of computational science thinking

 

SHARING OF MODULE IDEAS FROM TEACHER TEAMS

• Emphasis on process rather than product in module
• Incorporates variety of tools/other resources and activities
• Activity example: rubric that is teacher-friendly and generic: go through process-product items, use that to assign grade
• Anita: for statistics course, intro to physics: experimental design and inquiry-based learning
  • Five main ideas to develop model for development/how technology impacts student grades
  • In-depth STELLA models to change the amount of variables (email, studying, etc.) to increase participation
  • Submit to national symposium – data
  • Endpoint scored with rubric, taught units to prepare students for test
  • Are assessed at multiple levels throughout unit
  • Can be spread out over 4-6 months for JSCA project
• Cognitive load theory: when students are learning something new, there is a large cognitive load placed upon them, and sometimes it helps to have a complete example worked all the way through to see.  After seeing the whole thing worked through, they can build other ideas from the original example.
• Looking for assessment methods to cut down on teacher grading
  • Use thinking cube with Bloom’s taxonomy on each side, to toss to student to ask questions, student pick a side and respond or pass on to other student, each side can only be used once, good interactive way to get kids involved in learning knowledge
  • Anticipation guide where teacher sets questions about true of false questions students should focus upon when they are reading (do anticipation guide first, then read, then look to see if they were right or wrong)
  • Read-think aloud: first student reads the paragraph and while they read they have to share their thoughts with their partner.  Person that is listening has a sheet where they have to categorize what they are thinking, in terms of whether they summarized the passage, asked questions, etc. to categorize thinking.  Take turns (each paragraph)/amount of detail depends upon how much the teacher wants to grade.  Used primarily for anticipatory sets.  Reviewing previous day’s notes.  Dictates instruction as teacher is forced to teach at higher level to prepare students to answer higher-level questions.  (get away from knowledge-type questions)
  • Idea: use for thinking through aspects of model in computational science
  • All students are required to complete senior project.  Advanced computer science students could pair with science teacher on a topic that teacher wants to make into a better unit.  Let student invest time on the model for teacher to tweak before using with class.  Learn program and apply to problem part of senior project problem (STELLA, Excel).
  • Team WA:  what is the mode of transportation given position and time data.  Assessment: want a written assessment in terms of what they think the answer is and how they arrived at that answer. 
  • Larry took AP kids to computers with STELLA and Excel, and build a model in some topic of chemistry.  Some kids got it, some had no clue about what modeling is about. 
• Aerobic and anaerobic respiration.  Activities: using STELLA to model and Excel to graph results of hole punch lab. Hypothesize which student will be most successful at punching holes, examine misconceptions. 
• Assessment will be from project egg has to come back whole.  Rubric scored.  Check off as students go along.  Rubric has scoring guide attached to it.  Java applet for rocket: many available online, constructed own.  Model flight so that students understand flight line before building model.  Then compare to own model
• STELLA model to compare epidemics and the manner in which they spread.  Students are asked to modify basic STELLA epidemic model for people coming down with symptoms but not contagious vs. AIDS model.  Assessed through social studies component where students question each other in terms of what an epidemic is and how it spreads.  Translate to policies that would best prevent spread of disease, e.g. quarantine, vaccination, etc.   Also research government policy with regard to bioterrorism, analyze.  For bio, math, ss.

 

Helen: Is this the best way to report out your understanding (what is the best format)?

• Hearing teachers talk about their modules instead of reading, see the teacher teach the module/go into their classroom and see someone actually teaching an entire module
• Helpful to see the real materials
• Continuous checkup/online chat for feedback to share time among teachers and seek assistance. 
• Use blackboard to help teacher communication after getting modules together
• Start with smaller STELLA models and then build with both teacher and student understanding
• Collaborate with technology class to cover interworkings of program while program is used to build content within subject area
• What is the most productive way of putting up a lesson online?
  • Dependent upon teacher familiarity with topic and tools.  Tremendous number of teacher sites with lessons, but are they ‘complete?’
  • Do static lesson plans capture a teacher’s vision of what the instruction looks like?
    • Need addendum to highlight key topics and questions
  • Multimedia clips with teacher describing what they did/how it was assessed (pbs).  More than just static lesson plan.
  •